Frackfree Mahoning Valley

"All men are, by nature, free and independent, and
have certain inalienable rights, among which are those
of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring,
possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and
obtaining happiness and safety
" - Ohio State Constitution, Article I, §1, Bill of Rights - Inalienable Rights (1851)

YOUTUBE July 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFSN3G4185g * * * * * * * *
Photos taken by three photographers. Ask if you would like to add a
credit line - or just crediting to "Protect Mahoning Valley" is ok,
also.

Nationally
renowned leader who led the Love Canal, New York community out of harm’s way, author,
and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Lois Gibbs, is coming to Youngstown, Ohio
to share her story and address citizens’ concerns about man-made earthquakes,
fracking waste injection wells, and drinking water:

A
Townhall-style meeting featuring Lois Gibbs will be held on Friday, March 13,
2015, at 7 PM to 9 PM, at the The First Unitarian Universalist Church of
Youngstown, located at 1105 Elm St., Youngstown, Ohio. (Elm &
Illinois.)

Lois Gibbs is founder and
Executive Director of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), a
national nonprofit who “mentors a movement, empowering people to build healthy
communities, and preventing harm to human health caused by exposure to
environmental threats.” www.chej.org

Teresa Mills, longtime
environmental justice advocate and colleague of Lois Gibbs, will also be in
attendance at the townhall. Teresa
Mills is the Ohio organizer for the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice
and consultant for the Buckeye Forest Council.

Lois Gibbs led a heroic,
historic, and successful effort to protect her family and community from toxic
waste pollution at Love Canal, near Niagara Falls, New York, in 1978 to 1980.
Lois Gibbs is an author, winner of the 1990 Goldman Environmental Prize,
environmental justice advocate, and the subject of a movie about her life
titled, “Lois Gibbs: The Love Canal Story.“ She has done local and national media interviews or
appearances including with Oprah Winfrey and The Today Show. She has been
called “The Mother of Superfund,” a federal program to clean up toxic waste.

In the years 1978 to the early
1980s, Lois Gibbs’ efforts as leader of the Love Canal community, led to the
evacuation of residents who did not know that their neighborhood and elementary
school had been built upon or near a toxic industrial chemical waste dump. Under Gibbs’ leadership, the Love Canal
crisis got the attention of President Jimmy Carter and other national and local
officials. Through great effort,
Gibbs was able to obtain evacuations for 833 Love Canal families affected by
leaking toxic chemicals in their neighborhood.

The story of Love Canal
is an icon for what can happen when extensive industrial pollution and neglect
invade a residential community, unbeknownst to the people. It also shows what
can happen when public officials fail to protect the public health, safety, and
public interest.

The March 13, 2015 townhall
program is titled, “A Dialogue with Lois Gibbs: Fracking Waste, Drinking Water,
and Man-made Earthquakes: Where will the waste go and what can communities do
about it?”

The public townhall-style
meeting will take place on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 7 PM to 9 PM at The First
Unitarian Universalist Church of Youngstown, located at 1105 Elm St.,
Youngstown, Ohio. (Elm & Illinois.)
It is free and open to the public.

All media and the public are
invited to attend this very important meeting.

At the townhall, citizens can
share their ideas for solutions on how communities can protect themselves,
their water supplies, and their rights, especially in relation to induced
seismic activity, the increasing number of injection wells and millions of
gallons and tons of fracking waste being brought into Ohio.

“We are extremely pleased that
Lois Gibbs and Teresa Mills are coming to Youngstown to share their knowledge
and experience in environmental justice issues. This is a significant event for
Youngstown and surrounding communities, especially since Weathersfield, Niles,
Brookfield, Vienna, and other areas in Ohio are facing injection well
issues. We hope citizens
take advantage of this unique opportunity to voice their concerns and to get
information. Learning the history of Love Canal from Lois Gibbs herself will
help us stop repeating the mistakes of the past and enable us to find positive
solutions for current local issues,” said Susie Beiersdorfer of Frackfree
Mahoning Valley.

Frackfree
Mahoning Valley says newly obtained public documents show that the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) denied a Mahoning County injection
permit based upon their finding that “ … the Khalil #3 saltwater injection
well is located in close proximity to an area of known seismic activity”:

If
ODNR has not already done so, Frackfree Mahoning Valley calls for ODNR to
uphold this order despite company’s letter saying it will appeal the Chief’s
Order:

Frackfree
Mahoning Valley is planning a Townhall – style, open public meeting on Friday,
March 13, 2015, featuring a nationally renowned leader and speaker, to discuss
these documents and what communities can do to protect their drinking water,
air, land and public health, safety, and property values in relation to
fracking waste injection wells and man-made earthquakes.

Youngstown,
Ohio, March 2, 2015 – Frackfree Mahoning Valley (FFM) was made aware of two
new, important Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) public documents
showing that the state denied a permit for injection of
waste into a Mahoning County injection well based upon risks of man-made
earthquake activity in Youngstown and the surrounding area. The ODNR “Order By
the Chief” is dated September 24, 2014.

The second document, dated December 1, 2014 to Chief Richard J.
Simmers, is the response of Rex Energy (“parent company of R.E. Disposal LLC”)
to ODNR’s injection permit denial.The company’s letter
mentions a possible appeal of the ODNR Chief’s order denying the company
permission to inject waste.

The Rex Energy letter also includes a request for Chief Simmers to
allow “us to make limited injections into the well during your work group’s
deliberations, so that we can together gather information on seismicity
associated with the injections.”

Copies of both documents can be found at the Frackfree Mahoning Valley
website at:

Induced seismicity (man-made earthquakes) is a serious issue undergoing
scientific scrutiny, not only locally, but worldwide.We
cannot forget that the highest magnitude earthquake, so far, that scientists
link to injection was a magnitude 5.7 in Prague, Oklahoma in
2011.

Frackfree Mahoning Valley calls for ODNR to stand by their September 24
decision to deny the injection permit based upon their finding that “the
Khalil #3 saltwater injection well is located in close proximity to an area of
known seismic activity.”That was the correct
decision and the right thing to do to protect the public health, safety, and
public interest, including local property values and private property rights.

It is astonishing that the company in question would request permission
for “limited injections” despite ODNR’s original denial of the permit finding
that this is an “area of known seismic activity.” To us, it
appears as though allowing “limited injections” would amount to experimenting
and thereby gambling with the public health and safety of residents in order
to provide data for a work group. This is immoral and highly misguided, to say
the least.Our local communities did not give official
informed consent to be used in this way.If they have not
done so already, ODNR must deny any “limited injections” in order to protect
the public interest.

Furthermore, a February 17, 2015 Youngstown Vindicator article reports
that a deep injection well in Weathersfield that apparently is linked to
earthquakes and an earthquake “swarm” is being considered for reopening. That
reopening the deep well would even be considered is astounding, reckless, and
certainly not in the public interest. The well must remain closed.
Additionally, because it is in an area of known seismic activity, the
shallower well never should have been permitted to reopen and should be
immediately closed, as well, in order to protect public health and safety.

The continued injection of millions of gallons of fracking waste is
putting the public health and safety of our communities at greater risk of
man-made earthquakes.This is too high a price to pay.

This situation is getting worse – not better.For
example, despite Ohio state regulations after the magnitude 4.0 Northstar 1
injection well earthquake on December 31, 2011, there are now three man-made
earthquake sites, documented by scientists, in the local area rather than just
the one Northstar 1 site of 2011.There is an additional
site in Harrison County, Ohio. These facts support our belief that earthquakes
cannot be regulated to make them safe or to keep them small.
Earthquakes cannot be regulated.

We do not think that citizens should be forced to adapt to man-made
earthquakes. We want the earthquakes and the injection of
millions of gallons of fracking waste to stop. Did anyone ask the people
whether they want to endure the high risks and costs of man-made earthquakes
while companies try to control their magnitudes, essentially gambling with the
public health and safety? The informed consent, or lack of consent, of the
people was not sought beforehand. It should have been.It is absurd to think that human beings can control earthquakes with
100 percent certainty.The risks and costs are too
high.

We believe that fracking cannot be done safely, or even fairly, with
the technology as it stands today. Where is all of the fracking waste that is
constantly being created going? There is no good, safe, or fair solution to
this problem. The generation of millions of gallons and tons of fracking waste
must stop. Ohio is not a waste dump.

Frackfree Mahoning Valley is planning a townhall-style open public
meeting in Youngstown, Ohio on Friday, March 13, 2015, where the general
public and local officials can discuss the possible implications of these
newly obtained documents and what communities can do to protect their
families’ safe drinking water, air, land and public health, safety, and
property values in relation to fracking waste injection wells and man-made
earthquakes.

Frackfree Mahoning Valley is finalizing plans to have a nationally
renowned leader as the keynote speaker at this very important meeting. FFM
will announce details of the upcoming townhall meeting in a separate news
release.All media and the general public are invited to
attend.

For a November 14, 2014 article that
addresses man-made earthquakes please see:

“Scientists
link over 1000 earthquakes to fracking or fracking waste injection wells in
Ohio, yet the state of Ohio only lists 18 quakes on their website. Why? How
can Illinois and other states benefit from Ohio’s experience with fracking
induced seismicity?” November 14, 2014, article by Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer,
Professor of Geology, Dept. of Geological & Environmental Sciences,
Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio: http://www.frackfreemahoning.blogspot.com/2014/11/scientists-link-over-1000-earthquakes.html

Information about injection wells in Weathersfield and Vienna, Ohio is
included in the following article:

(The following GAO report includes information about “seismic
activity.”)

“DRINKING
WATER: EPA Program to Protect Underground Sources from Injection of Fluids
Associated With Oil and Gas Production Needs Improvement,” U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO), GAO-14-555, published June 27, 2014:

SPECIAL NOTE TO READERS: a lecture on injection wells and their waste products will be given Wednesday, March 4, 2015 at 7pmin Cushwa Hall, Room B112, 210 Lincoln Ave, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH 44503*MAPhttps://goo.gl/maps/Rq0UG *
FREE and open to the public. There is FREE on-street parking after 5
p.m. at the metered parking spaces along Lincoln Avenue and nearby
streets.
Lecture title: A Citizen Audit of Ohio Oil and Gas Waste Disposal Wells - LIVE Skype by
Mr. Nathan Rutz, Communities United for Responsible Energy(CURE), Ohio
Organizing Collaborative

FREE and open to the public. There is FREE on-street parking after 5
p.m. at the metered parking spaces along Lincoln Avenue and nearby
streets.

EVENT is here on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1420772774887607 Faith Meckley was born and raised in Geneva, NY on the
north end of Seneca Lake, the largest of the 11 Finger Lakes. Her
childhood was spent outside and her connection with nature at a young
age has had an enormous impact. Now that
she understands that her home region is in danger, not to mention the
entire planet, she finds it impossible not to take action. Over the
summer and fall of 2014 she walked across the country to demand action
on climate change, including a march through the YSU campus. She has
been arrested twice for protesting, and may be facing jail time in March
for one of her actions. She is currently balancing being a full-time
student at Ithaca College and an organizer for We Are Seneca Lake.

The massive expansion plans for gas storage under Seneca Lake is the
subject of "Seneca in the Balance," an upcoming public forum on Tuesday,
March 11 at Watkins Glen High School Auditorium which will address the
future of NY's Finger Lakes region: Will it be clean water and fine
wine, or industrial gas storage?

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Thursday 6pm Meeting on fracking waste injection wells,
Feb 5: Due to growing concern over injection wells in Trumbull County,
the commissioners and County Engineer Randy Smith will hold a second
public meeting to discuss Trumbull County becoming a dumping ground for
fracking waste water, updates on oil and gas exploration and injection
wells locally, how permits are issued and regulated, and how objections
can be made to ODNR and future legislation on injection wells.
Presenting and taking questions will be Attorney Thomas G. Carey of
Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell who specializes in oil and gas industry
matters. Well operators and industry public relations will also answer
questions. ODNR says Trumbull County leads the state in accepting waste to be injected into wells. They took in 2.3 million barrels in 2013.
In the first three months of 2014, wells in Ohio accepted 16 million
barrels of waste into the ground statewide, with half of it coming from
Pennsylvania.

Protect Mahoning Valley

The citizens of Youngstown can vote YES on Issue #4 (the Community Bill of Rights) in November 2015 to prohibit toxic trespass in the drinking water protected area of the Meander Reservoir, in residential areas bordering Mill Creek MetroParks and in the populated City of Youngstown.
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